by Sonia Parin
Tom lifted the door knocker and gave it a light tap. The door opened and a butler Evie didn’t recognize welcomed them and showed them through to the front parlor.
“Oh, our intrepid travelers have returned,” Henrietta announced and gestured to the chairs opposite her.
“Sara. Henrietta.” Evie sat on a chair that looked a little familiar. As did the table next to it… and the bookcases and the vases.
“Tom Winchester. We hope you are pleased with the results.” Henrietta handed him a cup of tea.
Evie accepted a cup from Sara and, before she took a sip, she looked at the cup. “This looks… familiar.”
“Does it?” Henrietta shared a smile with Sara. “What do you think of the drapes.”
“I told you they were new,” Evie murmured. “They’re… they’re very masculine. Is that a hunting scene on the pattern?”
Henrietta looked quite pleased with herself. “What do you think of it?”
“It’s… it’s pretty, but I can’t quite picture you living with it.”
Henrietta looked puzzled. “Why would I do that?”
Sara looked amused. “You seem to be under the impression Henrietta will have to live with these drapes.”
Evie looked from one to the other. “I’m sorry. I must be feeling travel weary.” She turned to Tom who looked quite comfortable in an upholstered chair. Why would Henrietta care how Tom felt about the drapes?
“We have taken the liberty of moving all your luggage from the pub,” Henrietta said. “Your butler has done a wonderful job of organizing it all.”
“Tom? Is there something you wish to share with me?”
Tom grinned. “The dowagers offered to address your dilemma by setting me up in the Lodge. I believe I am now officially your tenant.”
Henrietta leaned forward and murmured, “Although, he did offer to buy it outright. We know he is not accustomed to our ways and doesn’t quite understand we do not sell land or property.”
“I see. So… All that furniture you removed from Halton House…”
“Oh, we didn’t think you would miss it. In fact, we were sure you would be pleased with the new arrangement.”
Sara nodded. “I would have loved to stay on at Halton House but I have become quite accustomed to living at the dowager house with Henrietta.”
Evie looked at Tom who shrugged.
He’d known. All along, he had known and he hadn’t told her. He had listened to her prattling on about the dowagers suffering from kleptomania…
“More tea?” Henrietta offered.
“Oh, yes please.”
Henrietta tipped the pot a fraction only to stop. “Oh, what with all the excitement of having you back I forgot about Sir Richard Warwick telephoning with such dreadful news about your friend’s husband, Lorenzo Bianchi. We expected you to abandon the car rally straight away, but you stayed on…”
Evie knew she had just been given her cue to report on everything that had transpired over the last couple of days.
How much should she leave out?
“Well, there we were stranded at the Pecking Goose when Sir Richard came to our rescue…”
Evie decided she would skim through the story, sparing the dowagers anything that might give them a wrong impression of the bright young things or people in general. One couldn’t go through life expecting the worst from people simply because they were different. Of course, in future, she would take more care…
“Yes, but how did you get a flat tire?” Henrietta asked. “You seem to have skipped that part.” She looked at Sara who agreed.
“Yes, don’t leave anything out.”
Evie shrugged. “Oh, I thought you might be eager to hear about Lady Carolina Thwaites, but if you insist…”
“Oh, no… Do tell.” Henrietta poured Evie a full cup of tea. “Who is Lady Carolina Thwaites?”
*****
I hope you enjoyed reading Murder at the Car Rally.
Next in the series: Book 4 - Murder in the Cards.
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Author Notes
Facts and Historical references
In my effort to ensure the story remained historically correct, I spent many hours checking and double-checking word and phrase usage. Here are some examples:
Decoration Day: The preferred name for the holiday gradually changed from "Decoration Day" to "Memorial Day", which was first used in 1882. Memorial Day did not become the more common name until after World War II, and was not declared the official name by Federal law until 1967.
Week-end: 1630s, from week + end. Originally a northern word (referring to the period from Saturday noon to Monday morning); it became general after 1878.
Getaway: 1852, "an escape," originally in fox hunting, from verbal phrase get away "escape". Of prisoners or criminals from 1893.
Pot-hole: 1826, originally a geological feature in glaciers and gravel beds. Applied to a hole in a road from 1909.
Like a bat out of hell: The Lions of the Lord: A Tale of the Old West By Harry Leon Wilson, Copyright 1903, published June, 1903, page 107 (google book full view):
Why, I tell you, young man, if I knew any places where the pinches was at, you'd see me comin' the other way like a bat out of hell.
Come clean: Moberly Evening Democrat, August 1904
Rain check: First recorded in 1880-1885
By hook or by crook: The phrase is very old, first recorded in 1380
Call it a day. (I wanted to use the phrase ‘call it a night’ but its first recorded use is 1938… The original phrase was "call it half a day", first recorded in 1838, which referred to leaving one's place of employment before the work day was over. The first recorded use of call it a day was in 1919, and of call it a night in 1938.
Play it by ear: The phrase 'play by ear' is much later. The first record of it is in an 1839 edition of The Edinburgh Review:
"Miss Austen is like one who plays by ear, while Miss Martineau understands the science."
Spitballing: US newspapers adopted the term in this sense from its use by baseball players, and have employed it frequently since at least 1903, at which time it prevailed against a competing term, 'wet ball', in use since before 1876:
...Simmons out at first; Abodie safe on muff of wet ball by Sullivan; J. Gleason and Galvin out on fly to Raja and Clinton.
Breakneck: extremely hazardous, likely to end in a broken neck 1560s
Haywire: first recorded 1920 Dialect Notes, Volume 82: Hay wire. Gone wrong or no good. Slang.
The Grass is Always Greener. A Latin proverb cited by Erasmus of Rotterdam was translated into English by Richard Taverner in 1545
Step up to the plate: The expression began to be used toward the end of the 19th century. One of the first recorded examples comes from the Illinois newspaper The Chicago Tribune, May 1874, in a game between the White Stockings and Hartford: The visitors were put out as fast as they stepped up to the plate.
Other books by Sonia Parin
For any new releases, please check Sonia Parin’s Amazon Page
An Evie Parker Mystery
House Party Murder Rap
Murder at the Tea Party
Murder at the Car Rally
A Dear Abby Cozy Mystery series
End of the Lane
Be Still My Heart
The Last Ride
The Last Stop
The Last Dance
A Deadline Cozy Mystery series
Sunny Side Up
Snuffed Out
All Tied Up
The Last Bite
Final Cut
Sleeping With the Fishes
A Kink in the Road
The Merry Widow
Dying Trade
A Mackenzie Coven Mystery series
Witch Inheritance
Witch Indeed
Witch Cast
Witch Charm
Witch Trials
A Macke
nzie Witch Collection: Witch Namaste, Good Witch Hunting & ‘Tis the Season to be Creepy
Witch in Exile
A Mackenzie Witch Collection 2: Jingle Purrs, Potion Heist and The Power of Two and a Half
A Mackenzie Coven Mystery Short
Witch Namaste (Novella)
Good Witch Hunting (Novella)
‘Tis the Season to be Creepy (Short)
Jingle Purrs (Short)
Potion Heist (Short)
The Power of Two and a Half (Short)